Heading to Hau'oli City

The night was still long, but to avoid catching a chill and getting sick from the constant sea breeze, Xingye checked the map and headed with Cyclizar to the area near Ten Carat Hill.

There were quite a few caves here that had been carved out by the sea, occupied by wild Krabby as nests. As long as they did not disturb them, though, spending the night inside would be fine.

Perhaps it was tired as well. Cyclizar lay beside the stone wall and slowly fell asleep, while Xingye lay on the seat-like protrusion behind its back. It was just large enough for one person to lie on, and surprisingly comfortable.

"This map function is pretty useful. Not only are city streets and smaller locations marked in great detail, but even areas in the wilderness where Pokémon populations can be found have detailed markers and descriptions."

Xingye was still fiddling with his phone. As an indispensable daily necessity, he needed to figure this thing out first. There might even be hidden functions he had yet to discover.

He switched between the panel and phone modes and found some differences.

In the former, many apps had been disabled. The only usable ones were the social app, map, phone calls, and other core phone functions.

Maybe it was just for convenience, to help him assist more Pokémon. There was only one problem: the phone currently had no signal.

Earlier, Rotom Phone must have automatically connected to Professor Burnet's home network and downloaded Alola's map. Now that they were too far away, the connection had automatically dropped.

Fortunately, the time on the phone had already updated. That was very important. The lock screen showed October 26th, 1:36 a.m...

"So it's already October. Even in a tropical place like Alola, it's perfectly normal for the temperature to drop a little, especially at night."

As he spoke, Xingye switched the phone into panel mode. That way, he would not have to carry it around, which was convenient, and he could check the map anytime.

The first thing he needed now was somewhere to stay. Without a fixed home, the chances of running into danger would increase drastically.

To find a place to live, he naturally had to go to Hau'oli City. As Alola's largest city, it surely had plenty of abandoned houses. There had to be some left vacant due to exorbitant housing prices.

Xingye also had another idea: find some temporary work in Hau'oli City that did not require identification. He would earn some money first, then worry about everything else.

"Feels like I'm about to become a homeless drifter, man. Don't tell me I'm really going to end up living off opening treasure chests."

Thinking that, he grew especially sleepy. He lay on Cyclizar and gradually drifted off.

Outside, the sea breeze slowly subsided. Moonlight reflected across the ocean, its ripples glittering in silence and peace.

On the beach, Sandygast had completely blended into the sand. A Pyukumuku crawled onto it without it noticing, while several Mareanie huddled together in a group.

At that moment, all of Melemele Island seemed to have fallen asleep as well...

The temperature gradually rose. Before he knew it, it was already noon. All kinds of unidentifiable sounds came from outside, waking Xingye from his sleep... though he was not even sure whether he had dreamed.

"My first sleep after crossing over, unexpectedly... huh?"

Xingye suddenly realized that he was still lying on Cyclizar. It had long since awoken and was watching the Krabby gathered in the distance as they ate.

Their meal consisted of several unknown sea fish. It seemed that besides humans and Pokémon, ordinary animals existed in this world too.

Otherwise, how would one explain all those meat dishes? It could not be that everyone was gnawing on Slowpoke Tails or sucking on Kingler claws, right?

Cyclizar lay on the ground watching them, its desire to eat fish practically spilling from its face. Maybe because Xingye was still asleep, it had not acted, afraid of disturbing him.

"Cyclizar~"

The moment Xingye woke up, Cyclizar noticed. Only after he climbed off its back did it stand up, clapping its hands with an exceptionally excited expression.

"Hungry?"

"Cyclizar, Cyclizar~"

Hearing its cry, Xingye glanced at the Krabby eating fish nearby and understood what it meant. He smiled.

"Alright, then. Let's go find food first!"

"Cyclizar~"

When several Krabby saw them suddenly approaching, they assumed the two had come to attack or steal their food. They immediately waved their claws and struck threatening poses.

Seeing this, Xingye merely smiled. Then he and Cyclizar walked past them from the side, waving as he said, "Thanks for letting us stay at your home for the night..."

"???"

The Krabby blew bubbles, looking rather confused. They clearly did not understand what he meant, but after seeing the pair simply leave, they lowered their guard and resumed eating...

Xingye would not casually steal their food. After all, he needed to keep building friendly relationships with Pokémon from now on. It was best not to create bad blood.

But against wild Pokémon that actively attacked them, he definitely could not keep acting like this. Only an idiot would stand still and let someone hit him.

After leaving the caves of Ten Carat Hill, he returned to the shore. The Melemele Sea was quite lively during the day. People could often be seen riding Mantine and surfing atop rolling waves toward the distance.

"Alola's local Mantine surfing looks pretty fun..."

Xingye gazed excitedly across the sea, but at that moment, Cyclizar had already locked onto its prey!

It immediately pounced into the seawater, catching several fish near the shore in one go. A smaller Magikarp had even gotten mixed in among them.

Then it carried them all over and happily cried in front of Xingye, "Cyclizar, Cyclizar~"

"That's impressive... but you should eat them."

Seeing Cyclizar offer him the fish, Xingye waved his hand. These were all species he had never seen before, and eating sashimi without knowing what they were was unsafe. It was better to be careful out in the wild.

Humans and Pokémon could not be judged by the same standards. Most things Pokémon could eat might be poisonous to humans—the fatal kind.

So he decided to pick Berries to fill his stomach instead. However, among the fish Cyclizar had tossed on the ground, he reached down, picked up the Magikarp that was still flopping around, and threw it toward the sea.

"You really shouldn't eat this one. It's practically all bones. You'd chip your teeth biting it."

Though he said that, Xingye knew that because Magikarp reproduced incredibly quickly and had terrifying survival abilities, they could live anywhere from the deep sea to filthy ditches. Many wild Pokémon had placed them on their menu—when there was nothing else to eat, they ate Magikarp.

But just then, his phone suddenly sounded a notification. When he took it out and looked, it was unexpectedly a reward effect...

[Obtained Magikarp's friendship: Splash (can cancel jump recovery to achieve faster consecutive jumps; actually not very useful)]

"This... friendship comes way too cheaply!"

Xingye was completely dumbfounded. If he had to explain it, Magikarp was simply slow-witted and had casually expressed its gratitude. It probably did not even understand what it meant itself.

No matter what, having it was better than having nothing. Even if it was a talent of unclear significance, perhaps he could pair it with other talents in the future.

He also noticed that it did not say it was restricted to a particular user, which meant both Trainers and Pokémon could use this talent.

But in the social app, only his own little avatar was shown as able to use it. Cyclizar was not included, perhaps because it had not been caught and thus could not count as his Pokémon.

"Looks like I really need to catch it soon!"

But after this unexpected incident with Magikarp, he suddenly realized something. Pokémon that were relatively foolish or naturally friendlier toward humans had a higher chance of granting friendship. So perhaps he could start with Chansey?

After waiting for Cyclizar to finish eating the fish, Xingye had it help him make a ladder again, then picked some more Berries from nearby fruit trees to fill his stomach.

With everything settled, he did not intend to stay here any longer. While there was still plenty of time, he would find somewhere to live first before worrying about anything else.

"Let's go! We're heading to Hau'oli City!"

"Cyclizar~"